She was so much better than him, and he should let her find somebody worthy and not a broken mess, but that would be making her damn choice for her, wouldn’t it? If she was stupid enough to choose him, he had to let her, didn’t he?
“But you promised me home,” she said, “and I would desperately like to see if we can build it.”
He pulled her toward him, off-balance until they were both sitting in the dirt with a pointed rock digging into his tailbone, but he couldn’t move.
They rocked together as Asher whispered, “Yes.”
20
Penn surveyed the hastily cleared ground they stood on next to a waterfall. They chose this place for two reasons. One, because it was the halfway point between the Abbott Coven and the Scott Pack lands and therefore neutral territory, and two, all animals like to be near water. Not in the water, although one of the blonde witches from the land, whose name she’d already forgotten, was standing literally in the water with her hand against a gnarled lightning-scarred tree. Moira, the snake charmer, hoped that this place out in the open under the warm sun, close to cool shade and easy access to water, would feel very inviting for the snake they were trying to charm.
“Everybody, stop moving so we can get a look at this!” Charlie, the leader of the Abbott Coven, shouted, and men and women stumbled to a halt, though the chattering didn’t die down.
The configuration they landed on was, to her mind, an infinity sign. A ring of witches surrounded by wolves connected to a ring of wolves surrounded by witches. The Abbot Coven had brought eight witches—all that approved of werewolves—and six wolf mates.
Penn and Asher stood just behind Goldie in the Abbott Circle and her mate Aiden in the Scott Circle. Their linked arms joined the two, so Asher was as close to the center of power as possible.
He looked around grimly, but when he noticed her watching, he summoned a smile. “A guy could get a complex, everybody here for me.”
Malcolm grunted from just behind him. “Good, if the complex means you stick around.”
Asher’s eyes flared and then met hers again. “That’s the plan.”
She could lose him. Why did they even suggest this? It might not be the snake. He could live for years. They could have years together. What was she thinking?
“Circle up,” Charlie shouted.
Penn knew most lives were lived in repetition of the same day over and over and over again. The significant moments where you could genuinely change the course of your life were few and far between. It was strange to realize she was doing the most important thing in her life right now, maybe the most important thing in any of their lives. They were on one side, gathering all the power they could, and the fear stole her breath.
She mimicked Goldie and put her hands on Asher’s shoulders, and the connection snapped between them. His shirt was wet with freezing water, and he hadn’t eaten in twenty-four hours, trying to make his body as inhospitable as possible.
She knew now that this was an exchange of magic; their whole spell was depending on it, but to her, this didn’t feel like magic; it just felt like home.
“You ready?” Sonia asked Asher.
Asher broke their staring contest to meet the older witch’s eyes. “No. But go ahead.”
“Don’t help,” Charlie said.
Penn spun toward her. “What?”
“Don’t add your magic to this part,” Charlie clarified.
Penn fought down outrage, but Asher just shrugged. “Got it. I am the patient, not the surgeon.”
Penn nodded and breathed.
“Everybody ready?” Charlie shouted, and the murmuring finally wound down. Most of the group had varying levels of a Southern accent, and Penn bit back laughter to hear their nervous chatter in a relaxed drawl. She felt like she’d stepped into a historical drama about the Civil War on the eve of some huge battle.
Her home in Pennsylvania felt like a thousand miles away, but it wasn’t. It was just over the border, and she lived forty-five minutes from the Gettysburg battlefield. She shared a history with these folks that most people out West just didn’t understand. They knew about the Civil War, but it was ancient history, something that happened to somebody else. Out here, it lived in their vowels and every historic marker from here to the ocean.
She looked between the two branches, the wolf pack and the coven. Today was the end of a different civil war, wasn’t it?
The end of a couple of different wars,she thought, looking at Asher.
It had to be.
“Everybody connected?” Charlie asked.
